Pip was trapped in South Carolina at the height of the Corona pandemic after his owner was forced to abandon a yacht across the world and return to Australia.
With the border quickly closed, couple Zoe and Guy Eilbeck, along with their two sons, had less than 48 hours to clean everything off their yacht after docking at Hilton Head Island. Pets are not allowed in the flight rules, so Pip cannot accompany the owner to the house.
The Eilbecks have been raising Pip since 2018 in Messina, Sicily, when they were in the middle of a four-year sea voyage. Pip quickly adapted to life on the ship, enjoying time on deck and playing with his family. The dog has become a close friend of the Eilbecks family.
On the flight back to Australia, the Eilbecks thought they would get Pip back soon and would be wandering the ocean together, so Zoe made a few last-minute phone calls to arrange Pip for the folks you deal with. Everyone says goodbye to Pip and see you again after 6 weeks, but things don’t go as planned.
When the new coronavirus, which began to spread in early 2020, Eilbecks decided to travel to South Carolina to find a safe stop for their yachts – and for Pip. They found Steinberg to take care of the little dog.
“I heard that a family living on a boat abandoned their dog and returned to Australia,” Steinberg told CNN Travel. But as soon as I spoke to them, I realized that there was nothing they could do about this situation. I thought badly for their family ”.
While Steinberg was taking care of Pip, Zoe would wake up at 4 a.m. daily to deal with the papers related to Pip’s entry from the United States to Australia and to update messages from Pip on the Video calling and messaging.
“I always take pictures and post them on social media. At first, a lot of people were interested in Pip. Zoe shares.
Due to the influence of the Covid-19 epidemic, Pip’s return to Australia encountered many obstacles. “You need an American test to show the dog is healthy and doesn’t have rabies,” Zoe explained. This work needs to be done in New York, and it is currently closed. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to complete the paperwork for Pip ”.
Steinberg also has to constantly bring Pip to his local vet for paperwork, vaccinations and blood tests in order to meet the requirements. When they finally got clearance to return Pip to Australia, Qantas, Australia’s top carrier, announced it was running out of capacity for its dogs on its flights.
After several phone calls, Zoe realized that the family could take Pip across New Zealand and try to get their dog on a flight from Los Angeles to Auckland by booking with the pet transport company of Jetpets company.
But they still had to get Pip from North Carolina to Los Angeles. Flights have been continuously canceled, and many US airlines do not allow the transport of pets from May through September. Zoe decided to post a social media post to find someone. Going from the east coast to the west.
Luckily, Melissa Young, who works for the Sparky Foundation, volunteered to cross America with Pip and hand her over to Jetpets. Airline staff stayed up all night taking care of all filing and paperwork before taking a flight from Los Angeles to Auckland.
Once Pip got on the plane, everyone who had cared for him, along with the Eilbecks, waited, carefully monitoring the flight’s route, fearing it might get lost again.
Pip arrived in Auckland on July 23 and was quarantined overnight before flying to Melbourne, and underwent another 10 days of quarantine (this is a must for all pets from overseas to Australia (it will fly to Sydney on August 3). Unfortunately, after the border between Victoria and New South Wales was closed, Pip’s return trip was again delayed.
Zoe’s brother Rob, who lives in Melbourne, agreed to take Pip to stay for a few days and the dog was booked in Sydney for no less than four flights, but all were canceled. Pip’s story has so far been researched by local media, and after an article in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, Virgin Australia stepped in and agreed to bring Pip home.
